Still More Word and Phrase Origins to Make You Smarter

Third in a Series that Won't Go Away

Time again for another installment of the most popular series of articles on AssociatedContent, my series on the origins of words and phrases.

No, really, it is popular.

Okay, maybe some readers have turned a blind eye to my series, but it is still incredibly popular. Would you believe that the phrase turn a blind eye actually refers to a blind person? A historical personage? It sounds like one of those things that would be attributed to Shakespeare, doesn't it. But to turn a blind eye actually refers the legendary British naval hero Lord Nelson. Nelson, it seems, was blind in one eye. During an 1801 attack on Copenhagen, Nelson was ordered by a commanding admiral to cease fire. Nelson instead put his telescope up to his blind eye and peered through it, then told an underling that he didn't seen anything. The battle continued. The Danes surrendered. And a turn of phrase was invented.

You know, I've heard rumors that Nelson was gay. I don't mean homosexual, I mean he was a guy committed to happiness. Okay, I kid, but I needed a segue. Have you ever wondered how gay entered into the lexicon to describe a person who feels desire toward a person of the same sex? Oh come on, you have to! Despite what the movie Victor/Victoria would have you believe, the word wasn't popularly used in this manner until the 1950s. However, there was a word that was around since the 30s that was often used to describe, in particular, a young male homosexual. That word was gaycat and it's believed that it was merely shortened in length and extended in its descriptive powers over time.

That particular phrase origin does not, unfortunately, come to you straight from the horse's mouth. I tried and tried, but could not track down the highest, most direct source for the origin of the word gay to describe a homosexual. What does it mean to get information straight from the horse's mouth? It means there is no better source to get accurate information. Do you know the only way to make absolutely certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, what a horse's age is? You have look it straight in the mouth and examine its lower jaw.